Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) Extract as an Ointment for Skin Fungal Infection

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Skin fungal infection is a leading health problem in the world. Fungal diseases can affect anyone. To treat skin fungal inspection, there are topical formulation applied directly to the skin like cream and ointment. Patil (2019) stated that lemongrass contains citral, which has anti-fungal and anti-microbial qualities. However, there were limited studies about lemongrass as an ointment for skin fungal infection. Thus, this study aimed to fill in the gap by producing ointment out of lemongrass for skin fungal infection.

METHODS

This study used a quantitative method experimental research design, which involved the manipulation of the lemongrass ointment by assigning different concentrations of lemongrass such as 50 ml, 60 ml, and 70 ml of infused lemongrass oil. Controlled treatment is the base ointment without infused lemongrass oil. These four treatments of ointment were used to apply directly on the affected skin, while three parameters such as the color, consistency, and effectivity were assessed by using survey questionnaire to determine the general acceptability of the ointment.

RESULTS

In assessing the most acceptable amount of lemongrass as an ointment for skin fungal infection in terms of color, consistency, and effectivity, T1 which is the 50 ml of infused lemongrass oil, was rated less acceptable with a mean score of 2.4. T2 which is the 60 ml of infused lemongrass oil has a 2.04 mean score which was rated also less acceptable. T3 which is the 70 ml of infused lemongrass oil, yielded a mean score of 1.82 which was rated acceptable and T4 which is the controlled treatment has a weighted mean of 2.66 which was rated not acceptable. Based on the 3-point Likert scale, the ointment with the lowest mean score has the most acceptable concentration of lemongrass. Thus, the lemongrass ointment with the most effective concentration is the T3 with 70 ml of infused lemongrass oil. Based on one-way ANOVA (F-test), a ratio of 18.74 exceeded the critical value of 2.01 at 0.05 level of significance therefore, there is a significant difference in the acceptability of different concentrations of lemongrass ointment.

DISCUSSIONS

There was a significant difference in the acceptability of different concentration of lemongrass ointment based on varying the treatments. The study found out that the most acceptable was the T3 compared to the other treatments. Therefore, the researcher concluded that lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is acceptable and proven effective against skin fungal infection.